Table of Contents

In This Article:

Gallupís Q12 gives leaders a fast and accurate reading of an organisationís climate. In this article, Johan du Toit relates Q12 with Scheinís Career Anchors with its inside-out perspective, showing us how the combination of these instruments can be used with great results at both the team-level and at the corporate-level.

Employee engagement is a hot topic. These two words generate far over a million hits on Google, but sometimes it becomes difficult to see the wood for the tree.

Q12 statements:

I know what is expected of me at work.

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work properly.

At work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

In the last seven days I have received recognition or praise for good work.

My supervisor or someone at work does seem to care about me as a person.

There is someone at work who encourages my development.

At work my opinions do seem to count.

The mission of my company makes me feel like my work is important.

My co-workers are committed to doing quality work.

I have a best friend at work.

In the last six months I have talked to someone about my progress.

This last year I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Gallup’s Q12I am a big fan of the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement survey. It is simple to administer, quick to analyse, yet full of deep insights into the state of corporate well-being.

The Q12 statements were crystallised from extensive and rigorous studies by Gallup researchers. Their ground-breaking work found that when employees (strongly) agreed with these 12 statements, conditions were such that key measures like employee retention, productivity, profitability and customer loyalty were (greatly) enhanced.

The Q12, in my mind, gives leaders a fast and accurate reading of the organisation’s climate. The statements probe for the salient features of the work environment that boost work performance. That is why I think of the Q12’s perspective as outside-in – the proximate environment enfolding and influencing the work participants. Positive environments foster engagement, while “toxic” ones cause disengagement.

I have worked with advanced knowledge workers in many of my consulting engagements. Some of them are uncomfortable with parts of the Q12. Statements 5 and 10 – respectively concerned with the importance of Caring and Camaraderie – usually cause the most discomfort. The adjective “best” in statement 10 usually precipitates the most discussion. The recurrence of their scepticism about this soft-stuff has made me consider this discomfit from another perspective; an inside-out point-of-view.